In addition to the complicated question of FDA regulation of Non-Biologic Complex Drugs (NBCDs), there's the legal morass of patent legislation. Per the latest on that front, BioCentury reports thatU.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday voiced skepticism about arguments from both sides in the petition by Teva to overturn an appeals court decision that invalidated the company’s process patent for multiple sclerosis blockbuster drug Copaxone.
The high court will decide whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) overreached by reviewing de novo certain questions of fact in Teva's lawsuit against the Sandoz International GmbH generics unit of Novartis AG, rather than deferring to the findings of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Teva’s suit alleges Sandoz’s ANDA for generic Copaxone infringed on Teva's patents. The district court ruled in favor of Teva in 2012. In 2013, the CAFC reviewed the facts of the case and instead invalidated the process patent for Teva's daily formulation of Copaxone, set to expire on Sept. 1, 2015.
In Wednesday’s arguments, Justice Stephen Breyer repeatedly challenged Sandoz representative Carter Phillips to explain why the case should provide an exception to civil procedure rule 52(a) that “fact-finding of the district court should be overturned only for clear error.”
Justice Samuel Alito suggested to Teva representative William Jay that the company was asking CAFC to “to struggle to determine” which factual questions have resulted in clear error, and “is it worthwhile as a practical matter?”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor also asked: "Why don't we defer, as has been done now forever, to the Federal Circuit and let them review these things de novo?"
The SCOTUS decision is due by the end of June 2015. Any generic competitor entering the market before the patent expires would have to pay damages to Teva if it is upheld.
